Badminton’s men’s singles stuck in Groundhog Day, and attackers are the way out

Newly crowned Asian Games champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Japanese World Championships runner-up Kodai Naraoka, the Chinese heir to a shaky throne Li Shifeng and India’s superstar Lakshya Sen all have winninger qualities than a mere sharp attack. They are so well-rounded, with their classical technique, relentless defence, the Chinese blueprint and Sen’s one-day brilliance, that they have found ways to make the smash economical. They are expected to play so much badminton that you can’t blame them for finding faux-ferocity cloaked in disciplined retrieving, which has turned men’s singles into an efficient drill.

You didn’t need to be a giant on court like Axelsen, or have sculpted biceps like Zii Jia at All England. Kidambi Srikanth had a glorious attack without flexing strength and power. Men’s singles believed in a swatting smash, move on, don’t look back ethos. But slow courts, punishing schedules, attritional insistence and whatever went on in the neurons between Kodai Naraoka’s headband, like the mysterious core of ringed Saturn, turned men’s singles into Groundhog Day, nationality no bar.

Chou Tien Chen and Jojo Christie are very fine human beings, and Shi Yuqi has only recently learnt to mock opponents by pretend-flinging a racquet, so nobody has the stomach to tell them they have made badminton a safari-suited, briefcased 9-to-5. But the injury-ravaged Gen Hexed is really not good at piquing eyeballs. It’s not like they are Tai Tzu-ying. Efficiency is not tricks, it’s tedium that happens to be handsomely rewarded in this era.

So, like with all things badminton, Indonesians have arrived to rescue the soul. Alwi Farhan and Ubaidillah have varied but snappy attacks, and attitudes to match. They can take on the Chinese, and get Taufik Hidayat to go woot woot in the stands. The team event at the Asian Games, won by the Indonesians, had roused Taufik from his shrugging default of a pose.

Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan in action against China’s Li Shifeng during the men’s badminton team final at the Asian Games in Ichinomiya City, Japan, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo)

There are sparks elsewhere. Ayush Shetty is going to take time to get stronger to carry the attack he possesses. Injuries can set him back by months. But once he hits top gear, 2028 LA could look very imminent.
Lin Chun-yi did win the All England this year, skating on the grey courts, but he hasn’t recovered from the last taxing injury.

Driving it home, and reminding them of their fragilities at the Asian Games, was Korea’s Yoo Tae-bin. The names are interchangeable, but it’s well known the Koreans unearth temperament monsters for team events, who arrive like typhoons, lay the land to waste and disappear just as quickly as they struck.

But this time might be different. Korea’s legendary coach Park Joo-bong handpicked the 6ft-plus Yoo, and besides bothering China in the teams, he scythed through the individual draw, taking out Lin Chun-yi, Shi Yuqi and Kodai Naraoka. The best of Taiwan, China and Japan were packed off within 48 hours of the madcap scheduling that was badminton at the Asiad.

Yoo has been committed to an attacking game since his growing years in Gimcheon, and how the No 48 evolves will be watched. He looks up to Asia’s most successful footballer, Song Heung-min, with his camera celebration. He carries the burden of making the badminton smash photogenic again, while Ginting makes fans nostalgic.

Indonesia’s Moh Zaki Ubaidillah plays against China’s Weng Hongyang in the men’s badminton team final at the Asian Games in Ichinomiya City, Japan, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A blast from the attacking past was Loh Kean Yew, one of the earliest to blitz Axelsen off his perch, with a one-dimensional attack at the 2021 World Championships that flummoxed experts: just why was he winning? Except they had to concede he won a lot. Like, gold.

At the Asiad it was silver. Tortoise, rabbits, etcetera. Singapore preserved him by not entering the team event, keeping him fresh while the rest of the field ran ragged and fell aside. Lakshya Sen was handed a routine-looking defeat as India’s men’s singles medal saw no encore. Loh won the Singapore Open this year, but he hasn’t won much otherwise. He has gone in a blink from 2021 yuppie to dad-jokes teller. (What would he name his pet? Minton, because if he’s throwing a tantrum, Loh can call him Bad-minton.) He says he tells dad jokes because he is a dad now.

Yoo quips he digs singles because he doesn’t want to share prize money, and because it looks “cool”. World champion Alex Lanier boasts of a classical, clean-lined game, but it’s honed by chess and golf, so he is bound to overthink and complicate it someday. Men’s singles is aching to rush headlong into the 15-point game, when things might spice it up.